Before 2011, faculty members at West Virginia University who became new parents were in a bind. They weren’t unionized. They only had three months during the summer when they could possibly take time off to take care of their children. And under the policies at WVU at that time, faculty couldn’t get paid leave.

“Mothers couldn’t take maternity leave, those who adopted couldn’t take time off to go to another state or country, which they have to do, to adopt a child,” said Melissa Latimer, a sociology professor at WVU. “What are you supposed to do there?”

Then came Michele Wheatly.

Wheatly was appointed WVU’s provost in 2010. And as a new provost, she almost single-handedly instigated the change that led to WVU’s current parental and medical leave policy.

At first the leave policy was only for faculty on track for tenure. Then it was expanded to non-tenure track faculty. Eventually it included not only parental leave, but medical leave as well. The move was indicative of Wheatly’s philosophy as a leader: to empower women and minorities. It’s a philosophy she now brings to Syracuse University, where she is in her first full academic year as vice chancellor and provost.

The parental leave changes happened at WVU, Latimer said, because of Wheatly.

“We have never had parental leave on our campus before. But to make it happen you needed a leader to say ‘this is important and I will put into place an accountable and transparent system to make this happen’ and that’s what happened,” Latimer said. “That’s what Michele is.”

Wheatly was appointed SU’s vice chancellor and provost in March 2016 after six years at WVU, taking the place of Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Liz Liddy and before her Eric Spina, who was provost for eight years. She’s ready to make similar changes at SU to the ones she made at WVU and Wright State University, where she was dean of the college of science of mathematics from 2002-10.

For most of Wheatly’s life, she has been a woman in a male-dominated field. She went to college to study biological sciences at Birmingham University in the United Kingdom, where she eventually earned her Ph.D. She has worked in labs and as a faculty member and an administrator in the STEM field.

This experience, she said, makes her sensitive to what it’s like to be a woman in science. It’s what motivated her to make WVU’s parental leave policy. And it’s what motivates her to make bold changes that help women and minorities, which is a core part of her philosophy as a leader.

“I’ve decided that once you get to a certain point in life you’ve got to use your power and influence to really try and make change to those who follow,” Wheatly said. “You want to do things to change the culture so it’s easier for women, people of color and those with disabilities coming through.”

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In addition to catalyzing WVU’s parental leave policy, she helped start WVU’s Advance Center, which recruits women and underrepresented faculty into leadership positions. She also helped start WVU’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, which is modeled after a women’s leadership conference at Harvard University. At Wright State, she won federal grants that were used to create programs for students with disabilities and women in science.

“She creates programs that benefit everyone, but disproportionately impact underrepresented members of our campus,” Latimer said.

Wheatly used this summer, she said, to listen and learn about what SU needed. Her first priorities are strengthening SU’s research by restructuring the Office of Research and hiring and retaining talented faculty. SU was recently named a top tier research institution — a status, she said, that needs to be maintained by actively investing in research, not just in STEM fields.

She did the same at WVU. There, under her leadership, the university was upgraded, to a top tier research institution — at the same time as SU. It was one of the best things she did for faculty at WVU, her former colleagues said. It’s her legacy.

“I spoke with a lot of people about what they wanted and what they were looking for, and overwhelmingly people said they really wanted someone who was a great champion of the academic enterprise,” said Charles Driscoll, a University Professor of environmental systems at SU and the chair of the provost search committee that recommended Wheatly, along with three other candidates, to Chancellor Kent Syverud. “And I think she really does that.”

At both WVU and Wright State, former colleagues said making faculty more diverse was always a part of her mission. The process by which Wheatly brought about institutional change wasn’t authoritarian either, they said. She trusted people, empowered others and delegated tasks. Her former colleagues didn’t just tolerate working with her — they loved it.

“I loved working with Michele,” Latimer said. “She is probably one of the most positive, encouraging, supportive people in an administrative position I’ve ever met or worked with.”

Published on August 31, 2016 at 10:59 pm

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu